The Commission's report seems to assume that what happens in the rest of the planet, either side of the culture or trade is entirely in English. This may be true for part exchanges, especially North American side, and it is not surprising to note that most scientific publications are primarily in English. Either.
But it would be wrong and even dangerous to imagine that Quebec is a French island, so necessarily isolationist in a sea of English ideals. The two commissioners are committing, in this stage of their reasoning, a serious error of generalization - an exaggeration in the report of the proportions in Quebec's place in the world and in their vision of the rest the planet.
If they really wanted to be intellectually honest, they would have called things by their name. Learning English was mainly aimed at the integration of Quebecers in all North American Anglo-Saxon and the rest of the world does not feel this need to integrate them and this is understandable. Brazil, Japan, Finland and Russia can work very well in their respective national language without fear of being accused of "nationalist" and "isolationists." Insults fly low, very low.
The main harm the average Quebecer is not his sketchy knowledge of English. It is rather to be born in a bubble in French North America. Had he been born anywhere else in the world, he would be entitled to continue to speak their mother tongue (and national) without feeling guilty of "crime of isolationism and without being accused of being outdated.
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